On the same side of the coin
by letsgetretarded
Summary: Luke and Asch must save Lorelei together. They have to face many enemies and different paths they may take. Will Asch ever warm up to Luke? Asch/Luke Now rated T
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I'm not sure how this turned into a mystery/romance fic, I was going for more of a Mystery/horror fic but this is okay too. **

Luke awoke with sweat coating his forehead and tears streaming down his face. This is how it has been for the last couple nights. Luke would wake up in the middle of the night terrified and not know the dream he had previous to waking. Luke got up from the bed he and guy were sharing. The group was currently at the inn. When they arrived only three rooms were available, the rooms had two beds each. They split up into pairs of two. Anise and jade to one, Tear and Natalia to another and Luke and guy to the last room. He looked over to Guy who was still sleeping and decided to get up. Luke got up and looked out the window. Snowflakes clumped to the window and every once in a while you could see a couple residents hurrying past. Something black had caught his eye. It stood out from the white snow.

Luke decided to go investigate; he needed to clear his mind anyway. Luke began to dress into warmer clothes to accommodate to the weather outside. Luke headed out, making sure to shut the door slowly. Luke prayed the creak off the door wouldn't awake Guy. Luke didn't want to be interrogated right now. And it was hard not to wake Guy when he was an insanely light sleeper. The creeping of a mouse would easily awake him. Luke shut the door and went down to the small lobby. Luke walked past the clerk, who was behind his desk. He looked back to find him sleeping. He chuckled a little. It must have been a hard night from him, considering all of the rooms are full.

When Luke stepped out and onto the snow, the cold air nipped at his face as he cuddled into his jacket even more. Luke walked over to the mysterious item he had seen out of the window. It was a small box, a small, stone jewelry box? There were word carvings on the side of the box; it was of a language Luke could not read. He guessed it was ancient Inspanian. Luke opened the box, he screamed as his vision went pitch black.

Luke awoke with one of those mind-aching headaches. He quickly shot up and clutched his head. The pain was unbearable, worse than any other of those headaches when Asch connected with him. Luke's vision blurred as he shifted to the edge of the bed he was laying on. Luke felt like he was on a boat! Luke rubbed his temples and took a good look at his surroundings. Everyone; Guy, Anise, Tear and everyone were sitting there with worried faces. Guy had his hand on Luke's shoulder.

"Luke! Are you okay?!" Guy practically screamed in Luke's ear. Luke groaned and clutched his ear. Luke nodded and Guy muttered an apology about screaming. Luke wanted to keep the box a secret. He wasn't sure how the rest would respond to his story. So, instead he told them he went out for a walk in the middle of the night and blacked out because he was tired.

"We found you, Jade and I went out to go get more medicine for tear earlier in the morning and we found you passed out. So, we quickly got you inside and put you… in a...w-warm bath...because y-you were cold," Guy stuttered and looked away blushing. Jade laughed and Luke blushed a little.

"I'm not one that is easily flustered by a petti thing like that," Jade said calmly and Guy flushed even more. Luke looked over to the rest. Tear looked annoyed, Natalia looked like she was of in her own little world, and Anise looked entertained. Man, is this going to be a long day? Luke thought sarcastically.

After that was cleared up, Luke went out to go search for the box. While he was doing that, the rest of the group was having breakfast in the lobby. He told them a cheesy lie that was something about using the bathroom so he could go search for the box. Luke seriously was wondering how his lies got past everybody. Maybe he had gotten better at lying. Luke walked over into the snow. He marched as the snow got deeper. He then began to move the snow to search for the box. His eyes were blinded when something gold in front of him flashed. He looked up to see Lorelei's human form being strangled by a man wearing all black. The man's forearm was around Lorelei's neck. A dark mist was radiating around the stranger and a golden mist surrounding Lorelei. Luke fell to the ground, clutching his head. Lorelei was trying to contact Luke.

"_Luke...Asch, heed my voice. This man is trying to capture me and suppress me into the core. You must tell no one of my disappearance. Asch Luke you must work together to save me. Luke, go search for the box you had seen yesterday. It will help with returning me to the planet storm. Luke and Asch, this will be the last you hear of me for now," Lorelei told Luke._

Luke cracked open one of his eyes to see Lorelei disappear. Luke's headache would not disappear, even though Lorelei had finished contacting him. He sat there for a few minutes waiting for the headache to go away or for Lorelei to contact him again. But what he was not expecting was for Asch to contact him.

"_Dreck! Dreck! Is this thing working?!" Asch yelled on the other side of their connection. Luke groaned as Asch yelled. And Luke could imagine Asch was chuckling._

"_Yes! Now stop yelling," Luke yelled back. This time he heard Asch groaned and he stifled a laugh. Asch growled once and then began to yell at Luke. When he finally calmed down he asked," Replica…Where are you we have to team up and save Lorelei. As much as I hate you we can't afford to go against Lorelei's will."_

"_I agree. I am at Belkend, but we will be heading towards Baticul by nightfall. Where are you?" Luke asked. It took a minute for Asch to respond, but Luke was okay with that. Luke figured Asch was hesitant to tell Luke where his exact location was. "I'm near Chesedonia; I will meet you at Baticul tomorrow morning. I will contact you when I get there. You better not tell your trashy friends, dreck, that I'm there or I'll," Asch ended the connection abruptly before finishing his sentence._

**Ok I'm going to end this here for now. There will be another chapter tomorrow or later this week. It will be centered around Asch and it will be about Asch and Luke leaving of on their journey. I plan to make this story around ten chapters**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter summary: _We see progress in Asch and Luke's journey to Baticul. Asch hears weird rumors about the god generals; who are supposedly dead and Luke's journy?_

Asch headed out onto the desert plains of Chesedonia. He was planning to get there before Luke so he could grab a couple items from the shop and talk to his parents. He simply wanted Luke out of the way, while he catches up with his parents. Asch knew if his replica were there the dreck wouldn't stop running his mouth and trying to make him feel at home in the mansion. Asch just wanted to save Lorelei and get as far away as possible from that idiot.

Asch raised his forearm up to his forehead to shield his eyes from the sun and sand blowing around. His breath raged from walking over the treacherous land. He sifted his feet through the sand: which was about knee-high up on his legs. He huffed and decided to take a break. The red-head found a rock to sit on, so he could break for a moment.

Before he was going to make his way for Baticul he wanted to stop at the small oases that were located next to Zao ruins. He had heard a rumor from a merchant at Chesedonia that a young man with green hair was terrorizing a small town along with a small girl with pink hair and a liger who stood behind them. If that wasn't easy to tell that those were two god generals called Sync and Arietta; Asch didn't know what was. In the desert plains today it was hot and humid which made Asch's long hair stick to the back of his neck and beads of sweat trickle down his face. Asch huffed and stood putting his hands on his knees so he could balance. The grains of sand beneath him acting like quick sand. He then began to trudge through the desert.

Before long he was walking through the town. Asch struts up to a scorer at the fountain that was located. His clothes were soaking wet. When he arrived, he 'so conveniently' misplaced his footing and fell into the small oases. He arrived behind the distracted scorer who was feeding his horse.

"Excuse me!" Asch tries to call nicely but his voice cracked and the last word came out demanding. The scorer jumped and turned around. The man rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous smile.

"Sorry, you scared me. Yes?" He asked and then looked Asch up and down the man noticed the heart on part of clothing that was on top of his bodice. He jumped back.

"W-waitt y-you're a g-god general," he did a double take but Asch was unfazed by this man. He had hundreds upon thousands of the same reaction. Asch waited for the man in front of him to calm down before speaking.

"Have you seen to young 'children' one with pink hair and one with green?" Asch almost whined impatiently. He didn't care if he sounded like his replica at the moment but all he wanted to do is get out of this microwave!

"Ohh...yes. I assume you want to know where they are. They have just kidnapped one of our men and have taken him to Baticul. Will you please save him," the man in front of Asch begged. Asch was not concerned of the man sync and Arietta kidnapped but he was shocked to hear that they took him to Baticul. Why Baticul of all places? The area was heavily guarded and the pair would be heavily recognized. Asch doubted this was true. Now that Asch thought about it, he couldn't trust this man. For all he knew this could be a trap.

Luke and his group made their way towards Baticul about mid-way through the day. The group wanted to get to the capital before dark so they wouldn't have to camp out again. Whenever they could they avoided having to camp outside than sleep at an inn. It was always tiring to have someone at watch at all times and it was even worse on the nights when monsters attacked. The group would have to jump up out of a deep sleep to go battle monsters. Not only was it exhausting one their bodies and minds but it also gave them dark bags under their eyes.

Luke and the rest made their way out Belkend. The sun was shining directly on their face was the trekked their way through Inista Marsh. This time around their trip through the marsh they had not seen the lurking monster they had seen before. Luke forgot what name Jade called the creature. It has been a few months since then and the group where still on the balls of their feet expecting something to attack. So far, they have only run into three groups of animals that they had to fight. Luke wasn't too keen on remembering the names of the animals they faced against. There were more important things like injuries and the path ahead of them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Luke's prov: **

**Luke covered his eyes as he looked to the top of Baticul's heights. Luke was a little nervous to visit his parents and the king. He wasn't too sure where Asch's father stood with him being a replica and was also nervous for if Asch's mother and the king were going to bring up the topic of being a replica. It was awkward when the conversation was about him being a replica. Luke was sure if it happened again he would just stand stiff and have an awkward smile plastered on his face. All Luke wanted was for them to stop worrying about him. But at times in their conversation they would talk about of him rudely when he was right in front of them. This made Luke very self-conscious around Asch's family. Especially now since Asch could show up at any second. Asch always judged him.**

**Luke lagged behind the rest of the group. His shoulders were hunched and his feet dragged against the ground. Luke was still worn out from lowering one of the sephiroth trees. He tried oh so very hard to keep his composure on the outside while on the inside he could feel the energy being sucked out of him and into the sephiroth. The sephiroth tress not only affected Tear but affected him too. But Luke kept quiet and didn't complain. Tear's condition was life threatening while his was not. Therefor the group should and would worry more for Tear than Luke. He sighed. Sometimes he just couldn't seem to shake those thoughts from his head. It seemed like a dark cloud would always hover over Luke. For Luke it was easy for gloomy thoughts to pry through Luke's conscience.**

**Luke looked up to see he has lost his group. He panicked. His head tossed around to crane his neck so he could spot a group of familiar heads. Luke reassured himself that he didn't need to worry. Luke had learned these streets like the back of his hand after he ventured around his home town. Well actually wouldn't Malkuth be his home country considering he was born at choral castle. Never mind. He quickly shook 'that' though out of his mind. He needed to focus; first he would check the inn, then the market center, then hi-Asch's home and lastly the king's conference room. **

**Luke was down to his last hope. He had actually skipped Duke Fabre's manor. So if they weren't in the King's congress room then they should be there. Luke touched the handles of the gigantic door that led into the king's conference room. He looked up to see everyone laughing and having a good time...without him. They weren't even worried about him. They didn't even spare Luke a glance. They acted as if they didn't have a care in the world for him.**

**"Ahhhhh," Luke yelled in surprise as he fell to the ground. He felt sick! His hand quickly went up to his mouth and the other to his stomach trying to stop his stomach fluid from escaping his mouth. Blood dripped from his fingers and dripped in thick ooze onto the ground from his mouth. Luke's was wide-eyed. His vision fogged and he felt his consciousness slipping slowly.**

**'What is this?' Luke thought. Was Asch going through the same thing?**

**Asch's prov:**

**Asch looked up and covered his eyes as he looked up to Baticul. He had regrets about coming back here. The redhead wasn't too keen on seeing his family. Asch found his family annoying and bothersome. He was just fine without them. His mom always complained about how she needed him and wanted him back. Asch saw his replica tense when his mom preferred himself over him. It would be correct Asch was the original after all. **

**Asch stumbled when a sharp pain over flowed from his replica to him. Damn! What has that replica done now?! Asch began to curse allowed as he felt the pain intense. He slid against a tree and closed his eyes. **

**It took a couple minutes for the pain to subdue and for Asch to get in his right mind. The dreck! What happened?! Maybe I'll contact him.**

**'Hey replica!' Asch waited for a response but got none. Asch tried again 'Luke!' Something was seriously wrong. This time Asch tried to tap into his replica's mind. Asch huffed. Nothing...Asch stood dumbstruck. If his replica wasn't responding he'd have to find his replica. Maybe the one who had kidnapped Lorelei had kidnapped Luke. Asch felt his stomach turn as he thought of his replica. **

**"W-what?" Asch mumbled out loud as he clutched the bodice of his uniform. W-what was this feeling? He couldn't be worried for his replica could he? But, why? Many questions ran through his head. N-no this can't be right. His legs began to shake and his face reddened as he thought of Luke under him...flushed and panting. The small belly shirt showing his well defined abs. Mmm. N-no! Asch shook his head trying to rid himself of t-those horrid thoughts. Right now he needed to focus on Luke. He is in danger!**

_**An: I wasn't expected this to turn into rated m or angst/romance. Well actually I was…I just wasn't expecting it this early on in the story. This Asch/Luke relationship shall be one-sided until I say.**_


End file.
